We have just completed an exciting ten day visit to Lima. Amy and I and all the kids enjoyed some family time and got a lot of paper-work done on our expired passports and resident cards. We were able to visit with many great friends and see precious brothers and sisters from several assemblies. I preached five times, Amy did a women's meeting and we worked together at a marriage conference. Nearly everyday we got out as a family and walked 7 or 8 miles, discovering as we went, some of the vastness of this "concrete jungle". It was MUCH colder and grayer and congested than Tarapoto but exciting nonetheless. We even got to enjoy some of our favorite American restaurants like Starbucks and Papa John's. We are thankful for opportunities like this to visit "civilization" together as a family! Please pray for Amy and I and our kids!
Before the Lima trip I had a tremendous opportunity to raft solo down the Huallaga river. I was scheduled to preach and teach for a few days in one of the villages but no one was able to accompany me so I decided to take my 50 lb box of Bibles and tracts and row my way down river in my inflatable Kayak. The trip took me about eight hours and I was able to stop in at several of my villages along the way to give out tracts and greet the brethren. The villagers were quite amazed that I was doing this trip in such a vulnerable "balsa" but were mostly concerned that either mermaids or "Yacumama" (a giant anaconda) might get me :) .... There were a few spots with dangerous rapids and treacherous rocks but I was able to survive and successfully arrive at the village of Achinamisa without too much difficulty. I arrived at dusk to the excited and joyful shouts of many brethren on the bank who promptly helped me pack up my things and escort me to the main square where a crowd was waiting for me to preach in the open air. The next two days were filled with lots of preaching, yucca spit juice and sweet fellowship with the believers.
In the midst of all the events of this last month I was also able make a quick visit to one of the Shauwi villages near the town of Yurimaguas. The Shauwi are a native group with a different language, different customs and a completely different culture from the the other villages that I regularly visit. Some of these natives still paint there faces, fish with harpoons and hunt with blow-guns. There is a good work of God going on in some of their villages and in "Nueva Cajamarca" brother Pablo Cenepo is helping to construct a new building for their church so I decided to pack in a bunch of metal corrugated roofing for the project. Brother Jin Hedo and I were able to haul the roofing in our Isuzu Trooper up to within 4 kilometers of the village and from there we packed it in on our shoulders the rest of the way. As we drew near to the village we were greeted by the indiscernible screams of a completely naked native with face paint. We exchanged indiscernible conversation (friendly.... I think?) as we passed by and then continued on to the village where we were received by the brethren who could speak Spanish rather well. We had a great time in prayer and singing and scripture reading with these native brothers and sisters who were a huge encouragement to us. Please pray for the Lord's work in this area!
Tomorrow Javen and Cullen and I will be taking the institute students on a 20 hour drive up into the mountains where Whily Cacho will be teaching our world-view module. After the course is completed we will all be participating in a national youth conference. It should be an exciting time for our students who have never traveled to this area before. We will meet a lot of brothers and sisters that will be coming from all over the country and it will be a tremendous opportunity to impact a lot of youth who will be the future leaders of the work here in Peru. Please pray for me as I will be preaching several times and trying to lead the institute students through their different ministry activities.
Missions quote for the day by John Wesley: "You have one business on earth - Save Souls!"
Micah for the Tuttle's
